Here is a report from our FATC member, Charlie Trankler, who now resides in Texas  He just returned from fly fishing Colorado  

I spent a few days last week in Salida Co with my good friend and guide Stuart Anderson with Ark Anglers. After fishing the Arkansas River catching some good fish on dry flies, Stuart told me if I had not caught high mountain cutthroats I should really take advantage of the recent ice out of Lake Ptarmigan (the P is silent). I was all in.

He picked me up at the fly shop at 7:45am and started out towards Gladstone Ridge in the collegiate mountains. We took his Jeep up a mountain road that only a guide could navigate. It was like being in a Jeep commercial and I am glad he was driving. We parked at 12,000 feet and then hiked in another mile and another 250 feet in elevation. We had some snow drifts to traverse but the hike turned out to be really worth it. The lake has a long shelf that runs on the west end of it that you can wade out on. Stuart climbed up on some high rocks off the trail to spot the pods of fish. You could really spot the fish from a distance because of the bright red colors the cutthroat were at this time of year.

We fished dry droppers all day and the fish took the dropper in the morning but went to the dry in the afternoon. We fished from 9am to 6pm. I stopped counting after 12-15 fish. We had to start hiking down the mountain by 6:30 before things would start to freeze up on the snow pack we had to traverse. It was a very unique experience and I hope you enjoy the pictures.